Tralee Bay

“What am I doing here?!”...Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry by Kilian Kelly

This is a
new-ish arena for me. I am
returning to it after many years away. I’m a pretty average birder, with a very
average list. I’m getting involved in the Patch Challenge because it will force
me to explore my local area more than I might otherwise do and also to improve
my ID skills.

I remember ringing Reed Warblers with our local wildlife ranger in Youghal, Co. Cork when I was 10
(22 years ago...yeouch). My first twitch was a Little Ringed Plover that turned
up in Ballycotton around the same time. However, my teenage years were taken up
with hurling and birds of a different variety. ‘Hurling’ of course, for those
unfamiliar with the activity, is one of our national sports. It was only when I packed in a job that I wasn't keen on in inner
city Dublin, to do a degree in Wildlife Biology in Tralee, Co. Kerry that I
re-connected with the birding world. Naturally, I regret not maintaining my
early birding interest, but it is great to be back and I
am really enjoying catching up with my birding.

Tralee Bay Wetland Centre

I don’t
really twitch unless something is reasonably close by - mainly because I am
still studying and fuel is too damn
expensive! Funding aside, I ought to focus on improving my skills before
belting around the place after the rare stuff. I am also into plants and I’m a
reluctant budding bryologist. So patch birding suits me well. I don’t have to
drive very far and I can mix birding with botanising. I can nip out at lunchtime
or get up early and have a quick dash around before heading to college.

Tralee is
in the north east corner of the Dingle Peninsula in south west Ireland, so I
have access to some wonderful birding locations. I still have learner plates on
my scope and Tralee Bay offers a wide variety of good birding spots. Some great
local birders have been working the patch for many years, so I will be doing very
well to nab any self-found rares ahead of them. But then, I’m in a pretty
competitive mini-league with some Big Cheeses, so I won’t worry too much about my
scores and be content with the scraps.

The Bay

Tralee Bay
is a Special Protection Area (SPA) under the Birds Directive, a statutory
nature reserve, a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) under the
Habitats Directive (HD) and a Ramsar site. In its entirety, the bay takes in a
multitude of habitat types and includes extensive mud flats, sandy beaches,
dunes and rocky headlands. The site is a candidate SAC for fixed dunes,
alluvial forests and lagoons (all Annex I HD priority habitats). A myriad of
others exist within the bay such as Atlantic and Mediterranean saltmarsh, Marram dunes and Salicornia (samphire) mudflats.

My patch,
which lies within the larger area of Tralee Bay is called Blennerville. It is
at the eastern end of the Tralee Bay and has extensive mudflats fringed with
saltmarsh vegetation. Common cord-grass (Spartina
anglica) dominates in the saltmarsh/mudflat intertidal zone throughout most
of the site. Atlantic salt meadow is the dominant saltmarsh habitat type with
typical plant communities being found. The area I have marked out allows me to
include some riparian habitats and some wet woodland (well sort of) and small
patches of reed bed. The patch is surrounded by improved grassland and mainly
grazed by horses and some cattle. Tralee Bay Wetland Centre is also included in
the patch (http://www.traleebaywetlands.org/) and the ponds there are great for some gulling action.

Tralee Bay patch map

The Juice

So what birds? Well, I recorded a whopping 102
species on the patch in 2011 and another award winning 101 species in 2012.
However, I wasn’t around from June to November, and so lost some crucial months.
I didn’t find anything rare or scare, but some of the Big Cheeses did. I missed
out on 2 Gyrfalcons, a Yellow-legged Gull, Semiplamated, White-rumped and Curlew Sandpipers, Little Stint, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Dark-bellied Brent
goose and a Spoonbill. Damn it. I must up my game considerably.

Tralee Bay Wetland Centre in the making. The gulls love these ponds.

The bay supports one of the four largest areas of Zostera (noltii and angustifolia) in Ireland and supports internationally important of Light-bellied Brent Goose. Over a 1,000 spent last winter in and around the Blennerville area alone, with further numbers out in the larger area of the bay. Numbers seem lower this year however but I haven’t counted them properly yet. Other wildfowl and wader species also occur in nationally important numbers.

Light-bellied Brent Geese & Great Crested Grebe

Looking north west across Tralee Bay

Over the
years the patch has had some rather exciting birds (most of which would be
lifers for me let, alone patch ticks). Bonaparte’s Gull, Black Tern, Smew,
American Herring Gull, Terek Sandpiper, Red-rumped Swallow, Cattle Egret,
Caspian Tern, Glossy Ibis, Night Heron, Crane, Baird’s Sandpiper, Sociable Plover and Temminck's Stint are some of the birds that have been found before
my time. I would be delighted with any of the above in 2013, thank you very
much.

I am pretty
sure I won’t pose any threat in the Patchwork Challenge, or even in our Irish
mini-league, but then that is not what it is about for me. I want to get out
more in my local area, improve my skills and maybe, just maybe, eek out a rare
before a Big Cheese comes along to snaffle it up.

1 comment:

Hello.I am thinking of taking this course starting this September. I love Wildlife and everything about it. I have some hesitations though because IT Tralee doesn’t seem to be a ‘recognised’ institution therefore is a bit of a risk studying your Bachelor’s Degree there, no matter how much you love something.Do you think the Bachelor’s Degree in Wildlife Biology from IT Tralee will have some potential for a Master’s Degree maybe in another country such as Norway or Canada?I would like to hear your opinion since your are already ‘inside’.Thank you!!Regards,Leonardos